Sola Scriptura :What is the doctrine of scriptures alone? What is its outcome today?

Sola Scriptura: What is the doctrine of scriptures alone? What is its outcome today? "by Fr. Gabriel Wissa"

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; One God, Amen.

What is scriptures alone or what is sola scriptura? It is a doctrine believed in by our fellow brothers from the Protestant Denominations that means that the Bible is the Christian’s only source of faith. It is often combined, if not always, with a belief that the scriptures will declare personally to the reader everything regarding the truth of the Gospel.

faith, sacrament & theology series :

On the Bible series :

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

[StrengthTraining]

I wish mainstream Christianity in America would listen to this. Thank you! So important explanation.

[IconEnjoyer]

As a protestant heavily considering leaving protestantism for orthodoxy these videos have been helpful. Thank you.

[coryrobert]

Thank you father. I am a protestant on his way to Orthodoxy and these videos are a huge help to get passed what I was taught growing up in a protestant church

[hervedavidh]

As a catholic, i'm sad we brethrens are still separated. We share almost everything about doctrine. May God, and us be drawn to each others to make oecumenism effective once and for all.

[vaskaventi]

I've spent most of my Christian life as a protestant and currently am agnostic on denominations, but I must admit that given the vast disagreement and even rampant heresy in modern Protestantism, the claim that tradition isn't needed because we have the Holy Spirit to guide our interpretations seems to be patently false.

[silashollis]

That is a very compelling arguement for Orthodoxy that I have been looking for.

[dave]

“What then, shall be our way of arguing? We shall answer nothing new, nothing of our own invention, though they challenge us to it; we shall fall back upon the testimony in Holy Scripture about the Spirit, whence we learn that the Holy Spirit is Divine, and is to be called so. Now, if they allow this, and will not contradict the words of inspiration, then they, with all their eagerness to fight with us, must tell us why they are for contending with us, instead of with Scripture. We say nothing different from that which Scripture says.”
Gregory Nyssa
On the Holy Spirit

"For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the Faith, not even a casual statement must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures; nor must we be drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech. Even to me, who tell you these things, give not absolute credence, unless thou receive the proof of the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures. For this salvation which we believe depends not on ingenious reasoning, but on demonstration of the Holy Scriptures."
St. Cyril of Jerusalem
Catechetical Lecture 4

[dave]

“That the man of God may be perfect. For this is the exhortation of the Scripture given, that the man of God may be rendered perfect by it; without this therefore he cannot be perfect. You have the Scriptures, he says, in place of me. If you would learn anything, you may learn it from them. And if he thus wrote to Timothy, who was filled with the Spirit, how much more to us!”
St. John Chrysostom
Homily 9 on II Timothy (3:17)

“RULE TWENTY-SIX
That every word and deed should be ratified by the testimony of the Holy Scripture to confirm the good and cause shame to the wicked…
RULE TWENTY-EIGHT
That we should not be readily and thoughtlessly carried away by those who make pretense of the truth, but we should recognize each from the sign given us by the Scriptures”
St. Basil the Great
The Morals

[rgwhiteywins]

Yes. I was raised Catholic. I am considering the Orthodox Church because the Catholic Church has become off track. Besides what Father said, Martin Luther caused a rift and Christian people end up not loving each other because they don't share doctrine.

[lukasmakarios]

I think this misrepresents the reasoning behind "Sola Scriptura." Rather, it uses Scripture to limit the development of tradition, insisting that every new idea must be supported by scriptural reference(s), or some logical proof based on Scripture or inferences from Scripture. We don't use the Scriptures as the only source of Truth. We have the inspiration of the Holy Spirit too, of course. But we use the Bible as a rule to discern whether our inspiration is truly from the Holy Spirit, in the knowledge that God will never contradict Himself.

The Bible may not specify everything about the Christian life, especially in the 21st century, but our adaptations should find their reasoning founded firmly in the Word of God. Elsewise, we may be adding worthless traditions for the confusion of the faithful, or worse, influences from Satan to lead us into heresy.

The Apostles and Early Fathers gave us our foundation, based firmly upon the Scriptures, and the ecumenical councils tried to keep us faithful to their Truth. But the final authority to discern Truth has to rely on the Scriptures, and not the noncanonical writings or later traditions, so that we can be certain that all developments are in line with our God through his Word and Holy Spirit. Traditions must not be based on speculation or imagination, even if we do allow pious meditations such freedom. They don't have real authority apart from Scripture.

[dave]

“But as for ourselves, we were agreed that there is something more trustworthy than any of these artificial conclusions, namely, that which the teachings of Holy Scripture point to: and so I deem that it is necessary to inquire, in addition to what has been said, whether this inspired teaching harmonizes with it all.”
St. Gregory Nyssa
On the Soul and the Resurrection

[carmelpereira]

A very informative video! Thank you Abouna for teaching us the Faith. May our Lord always keep you under His care and protection.

[dave]

"What is the mark of a faithful soul? To be in these dispositions of full acceptance on the authority of the words [of the Scripture], not venturing to reject anything- nor making additions. For, if 'all that is not of faith is sin, as the Apostle says, [ Rom. 14:23 ] and 'faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God [ Rom. 10:17 ], everything outside Holy Scripture, not being of faith, is sin."
St. Basil the Great
The Morals

[dave]

“We do not think that it is right to make their prevailing custom the law and rule of sound doctrine. For if custom is to avail for proof of soundness, we too, surely, may advance our prevailing custom; and if they reject this, we are surely not bound to follow theirs. Let the inspired Scripture, then, be our umpire, and the vote of truth will surely be given to those whose dogmas are found to agree with the Divine words.”
St. Gregory Nyssa
On the Holy Trinity

[lucienlagarde]

I agree with that fr Gbu from an eastern orthodox Christian i like the Oriental Orthodox Church Gbu

[Saluspergratiam]

Just a quick note; The Original Doctrine of Sola Scriptura meant that whatever we teach, believe, or confess, must align with the Bible. Lutherans, the original Protestants, never rejected Church Tradition, and even wrote a full book called the "Book of Concord" to guide our interpretation. What they did reject was what they viewed as additions to faith, ie Indulgences, Purgatory, the Power of the Papacy, etc.

Also the other definition of Sola Scriptura used by us is that Scripture is the only binding authority of the faith, meaning that whatever we teach must be in agreement with the Bible.

Regardless, the version doctrine you speak against is wrong, yes. And this is a good video explaining precisely the errors. It is a harsh reaction against Roman Catholicism that led to the opposite extreme

[dave]

This isn't really true though.

Sola Scriptura holds that doctrines simply cannot contradict with Scripture. Even the bulk of the early fathers, including Gregory of Nyssa, Basil, Augustine, and others held to this view.

[PastorScottIngram]

I appreciate you calling those who hold to sola scriptura brothers even though I would disagree with your disagreement of the doctrine of sola scriptura.

[davidsoumano]

Hi, I really have lot of questions, is there any email I could write them concerning this topic. I am really a lost soul seeking for the truth. Please help me

[dave]

“Their complaint is that their custom does not accept this, and that Scripture does not agree. What is my reply? I do not consider it fair that the custom which obtains among them should be regarded as a law and rule of orthodoxy. If custom is to be taken in proof of what is right, then it is certainly competent for me to put forward on my side the custom which obtains here. If they reject this, we are clearly not bound to follow them. Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favour of that side will be cast the vote of truth.”
St. Basil the Great
Letter 189